One Step Closer: HB Desalination Project Nears Final Approval

Poseidon Resources announced last week that the Santa Ana Regional Water Quality Control Board unanimously approved an amended National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System Permit for the Huntington Beach Seawater Desalination Project. The amended permit allows the Project to operate in a “stand-alone” mode when the HBGS is temporarily shut down; or when the HBGS is operating but its seawater discharge volumes are not sufficient to meet the Project’s 126.7 MGD intake requirements.

The Regional Boards approval of the Project clears the way for the California Coastal Commission to consider approval of the final permit necessary before desalination facility construction can start. Poseidon Resources has applied for a Coastal Development Permit and a permit hearing is anticipated later this year.

Over 2,000 jobs will be created during Project construction. Once completed, the seawater desalination project will provide up to 50 million gallons of drinking water per day for Orange County, approximately eight percent of the county’s water supply needs.

The California State Water Resources Control Board is the state’s prevailing regulatory authority on water quality and was created by the legislature in 1967 to protect California’s waters. The Project’s stand-alone operations are regulated under California Water Code (CWC) Section 13142.5(b), which requires new industrial facilities using seawater for processing to use the best available site, design, technology and mitigation feasible to minimize intake and mortality of marine life. In approving the Huntington Beach desalination facility’s temporary stand-alone operation the Santa Ana Regional Board found the Project fully complies with CWC Section 13142.5(b). For more information about the project, log on to www.hbfreshwater.com.